Waking Up: 2025 Easter Letter

So much depends on waking up: what facilitates the shameful crimes of the few is the equally shameful sleepiness of the many.

At this Easter season of 2025, spring shines brighter than ever, perhaps precisely because the storm clouds of our time are looming so dark, so heavy over us.

People ask me again and again: “What can we do in this situation?” What I myself am trying to do is twofold: to gratefully enjoy the gift of everything that’s newly growing in nature and in society; and to contribute to springlike new beginnings wherever the opportunity arises — indeed it arises all around us if only we are awake.

An example: a new sense of responsibility for the environment is emerging — a fact that may make our survival possible. This certainly is cause for joy — and for acting responsibly — say, by turning off electric lights where they are not needed. Even simple steps like this can go a long way to help us not turn into sleepwalkers.

So much depends on waking up: what facilitates the shameful crimes of the few is the equally shameful sleepiness of the many.

My Bible test for Easter 2025 is this one:

“Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead!” (Ephesians 5:14)

Our waking up to the many opportunities we have been given to help build a better future, that is — here and now — a “resurrection from the dead.”

Waking up is what I wish you and all of us,

Your brother David

Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB

Brother David Steindl-Rast — author, scholar, and Benedictine monk — is beloved the world over for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness. Known to many as the “grandfather of gratitude,” Br. David has been a source of inspiration and spiritual friendship to countless leaders and luminaries around the world including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, and more. He has been one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement, and has taught with thought-leaders such as Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, and Roshi Joan Halifax. His wisdom has been featured in recent interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Krista Tippett, and Tami Simon and his TED talk has been viewed almost 10,000,000 times. Learn more about Br. David here.

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